Talking about adoption, birthparents, abandonment, race, and China with my kids. That's not all we talk about -- but reading this blog, you'll think it's all we do!!!!!

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Clueless!

OK, wrong iconic blonde and wrong decade! But "Clueless" is the kindest thing I could come up with for the comments made by Debbie Harry of Blondie fame, an adoptee herself, about her interest in adoption. Says the Winnipeg Free Press:

Debbie Harry has thought about adopting children.

The iconic singer - who was adopted at a young age by shop owners Richard and Catherine Harry - has never had children but did occasionally think about the idea of expanding her family.

She said: "I've thought of adoption, which I think I'd be really good at. Now that this terrible earthquake has happened in Japan, there will be lots of children needing homes."

The 65-year-old pop star likes to support various charities, and the eco-conscious celebrity would like to set up a foundation to promote the use of solar panels.

I give Harry somewhat of a pass, because of her age and her own experience as an adoptee. She's sixty-five, and it sounds as if she's never had more than a fleeting interest in parenthood. She was also raised in an era in which encouraged a different kind of thinking about and vocabulary surrounding adoption than what is seen as appropriate today. As an adoptee herself, Harry might have realized that there were ways to create a more supportive environment, leading to her conviction that she would be "good" at adoption. But as someone with no real interest in parenthood, she may not have considered these issues seriously enough to express them in an articulate and sensitive way.

None of these things are excuses for Harry's ridiculous comments, but they do provide some context for why she might not know any better.

I can NOT imagine uprooting a child after the trauma of tsunami and putting them in an American home. That would not be fun for the child. If they go anywhere, they should go to a Japanese family who can understand them.

OOO!Sarah bordering on the ageist there!! Age is no excuse for sloppy thinking or garbling myths.Engage mouth before speaking Debby you obviously didn't realise there is a worldful of adoptees and others ready to pounce on your every word and perhaps you haven't done your research thoroughly enough.Did you know solar panels put more heat into the atmosphere than they save? No? The 66 year old adoptee brain collects trivia like that.

Von, I'm not sure what adoptee status has to do with one's ability to remember facts about solar panels, but the example you provide suggests that Harry has not educated herself about many of the causes she supports. Which was kind of my point. She clearly isn't educated on current thinking regarding adoption, and one explanation is that she's never seriously considered the subject as an adult.

As I very clearly stated, I don't think this excuses her comments. It just prompts me, personally, to judge her (slightly) less harshly. Maybe the backlash she receives will provide an impetus for her to question her current perceptions. I hope that is the case.

Thanks for the post. I was going to do something but it seemed like just another clueless celeb and frankly they exhaust me....

Harry herself said years ago that she imagined that she was the daughter of Marilyn Monroe. As an activist, I wrote to her once years ago (she lived in the same building as a friend of mine in NYC) but never got a response, or the letter returned. I had hoped to engage her in the opoen recoords issue. No deal.